Child's play

Child's play

To anyone who ever said girls have to play with dolls and boys with blocks, this toy, created by a female engineer troubled by the lack of girls interested in entering STEM fields, proves skeptics wrong. (And if you haven’t seen the awesome viral video around it, watch now!) The set includes a storybook featuring Goldie—who builds a spinning machine to help her dog chase his tail—that takes girls through building the star-shaped contraption themselves. “Making engineering and entertaining accessible for young kids may be the motivation behind this line, but it’s also fun, which means that it keeps kids engaged and learning,” says Byrne.

Child's play

Child's play

When Sofia, the heroine of Sofia the First, attends a princess academy and receives the Amulet of Avalor, she gains the ability to speak to animals, which is what this now-in-real-life toy plays off of. The Sofia doll uses radio frequency ID to detect when her friends are near and engage in conversations using more than 30 phrases. Your daughter will most certainly approve.